Automatic diving mechanism for submarine boats.



PATENTBD SEPT. 15, 1903.'

I'. W. BRADY.

AUTOMATIC DIVING MEGHANISIVI POR SU'BIVIARINE BOAT?.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 25, 1902.

SHEETS-SHEET I.

HO MODEL,

TATBNTTD SEPT; 15, 190s,

T. W, BRADY. AUTOMATIC DIVING MBGHANTSM TOR SUBMARINE BOATS.

APPLOA'IION FILED FEBl 25. 1302.

4 SHEETS-SHEET z.

NO MODEL.

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PATENTED SEPT. l5, 1903. P. W, BRADY. UTGMTIG IVING MEGHANSM FOR SUBMARIN'E. BOATS.

APELIOATION FILED PEB. 25, 1902.

NO MODEL. 4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

www;

No. 738,879. PATBNTED SEPT.15, 1903. T. W. BRADY.

AUTOMATIC DIVING MEOHA'NISM POR SUBM.\RNE BOATS.

APPLICATION FILED PEB. 25, 1902.

NO MODEL. 4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

To all whom it may concern.-

their diving position,

UNiTEn STATES' 'Patented september 15, 1903.

" FFICE.

FRANCIS W. BRADY, or ENcLRwco netsw JERSEY, AssIGNoR To ELEC- l TRIO BOAT COMPANY. `OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

AUTOMATIC. nlvlNc Meel-{Aulsm FOR sUBMAR/INE BoATs.

SPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 7 38,879,` dated September`15, 1903.

' Application filed February 25. 1902. Serial No. 95,628. (No modell) ,v

Be it'knowu that I, FRANCIS W. BRADY, a citizen of the United States, residingin Engle- Wood, Bergen county, New Jersey, have invented certain Improvements in Automatic Diving Mechanisms for Submarine Boats and the Like, of which the following isa specification.

Y In order thatl the present inventlon maybe the better understood, it willsbe proper to state here that in the class of submarine boats, including also the class of automatically-opevrated boats known a's torpedoes,

an engine is employed to actuate the divingfudders, and the vvalveot thisdiving-engine is automatically operated and controlled, in order to cause the boat to dive to a predetermined depth; by a flexible. diaphragm exposed on one side to pressure from the water in which the boat is submerged and on the other side to the pressure of a spring the tension of which is capable of regulation or adjustment. Thediaphragm actuates a floating-lever, which latter modifies the action of thevalve of the diving-engine, thus controlj ling the divin g-rudders. The water-pressure' and the spring, acting automatically Von opposite sides of the diaphragm, therefore coni trol the movement of the boat in a vertical direction. When the boat is at the surface on a level keel and the diaphragm-spring is set for a predetermined depth of dive, this spring sets the diving-rudders over fully int-o so thatA as soon as the boat is set in motion ahead it begins to dive, descending obliquely. Asit continues to de'- scend thehydrostatic pressure on the dia phragm opposingthe spring increases with the depth until at a predetermined depth the two fo 'ces will exactly balance each other.

' The Va ve, of the diving-engine will then be at the center of its travel, and the divingrudders will be at steady or be alined with the axis of the boat. The path followed by theboat in its descent will be a curve of gradui thus bringing thereby brought into alinement with the axisV of the boat the b'oats axis will not be horizontal, as it shouldl be. Infact, said axis will cross the plane of predetermined depth at a very considerable angle, and the reverse. f

curve necessary to-bring theboat toa level -keel must be I"described below the level or plane 'of predetermined depth until the boat rises again and traverses said plane from below at a considerable angle. The objection* 4to this controlling means is that if the depth of water should not much eceed the desired depth of submergence at the point where `the boat dives it' is obvious `that the latter will strike the bottom, and .this will be almost certain to seriously disablethe boat, particu larly it the bottom berocky. 1

In view lot the above conditions the pur,

pose ofthe present invention is'to provide with the means above described for confining the formation of the. reverse 'curve in .the boats path downward to adepth not exceed ing that of the predetermined submergence,.

whereby the :diving-boatwill be brought to v'the plane of snbmergence with a level keel.

This is effected. by providingautomatic means operating in coujunctionwith but in a m'easure independently of the means above described for givingto the diving-rudders are'- versing inclination when -the boat shall have descended to a depth which'V is such a frac-- tion of the total depth of 'submergence as may be found by experiment'gsuitable fora par? ticular boat. The effect of thus reversing'y the. inclination of the .,rudders is tocause the' boat at the moment of ,reversal to chang its direction and follow a curved path,which is' the reverse of that it was before following,

plane of predetermined depth ofnbmergence,

the boat to a level keel at the proper depthand eliminating. the danger du'e to the boats descending materially below said` .95 depth. l f

In the accompanying drawings, which serve" to illustrate an embodiment of the invention, I

Figure lis a diagrammatic view illustrating the path of determined depth and the diving-rudders are automatic means operatingin conjunction .99 .the new curved path bei-ng tangent to thetthe boat in diving. Figs. 2 and :as

ldifferently from the principal views merely to illustrate all of the parts better.

Referring primarily to Fig. 1,00 represents the .water-line. y is the predetermined plane of snblnergence, and z is the bottom of the waterway. The boat u is represented in full lines as at the lwater-level, readyfor diving.. Bythe ordinary means employed for control- `ling the diving-rudders `the boat wouldl follow the curved path, indicated by dotted lines at m', eventually crossing the plane y, as indicated at 0,. With the improved means, which form the embodiment of this invention, the boat will change direction at some point, y', and follow the reversed curved path indicatedby the dotted lines mi' and reach the plane y on a level keel, as at a. This diagrammatic view will suffice to illustrate the y purpose of the invention, which will now bel more particularly described with referenceto the detail views y InV the views, a represents the boat or boatbody; b, the diving-rudders usually secured on a common shaft c. d is an arm en said shaft from which au operating-rod e extends into the boat and there becomes the pistonrod of the diving-enginef, as seen in Fig. 4. It need only be said of this engine that g is the piston secured to the rod e'.

his the valve-chest. l

is the inlet for the fluid under pressure which moves the piston, andjis a double-piston valve which normally controls the ports of the engine. In the ordinary or known constructions of mechanisms for controlling the 'diving-rudders of a submarine boat heretofore briefly described the valve]- or one similar thereto is employed alone to control the' port-s of the engine. Y

la is the stem of the valvej. I

mis a rocker having a nou-rotative journal or pivotal axis n., A floating lever o hasr a pivotal journal'or fulcrum p, adapted'to slide horizontally a limited distance at the same level as the axis fn. On' the journal p is-loosely mounted a rocking crossfarm q, to which the valve-stem is coupled above the center of p. The arm q carries at its respective extremities two studs r fr, which engage open slots m' in the transverse branches of the rocker m. This is to permit the fulcrum 4 p to play in its guide s and permit the crossto maintain its connection with the rocke'" m. The longer arm of the rocker m (see Fig. 4) is coupled to a block wliich slides in a slotted guide-piece t, secured to the pis .ton-rod e. The shorter arm ofthe lever o is serves to modify the action of the latter.

coupled to a rod u, which extends to the conv nving-tower or. other locality and has on it rack-teeth, gearing with a pinion u', Fig.

4,'under-control of the steersman or other person operating the boat. The longer arm ofthe lever o is coupled by a link fu through a regulating device to a diaphragm-rod w. This rod is coupled to a diaphragm 2 in a dia.-

-phragm-casing 1, which is open to the water- .pressure outside of the boat throu'gha pipe 3.

The rod wis coupled at its other endto a lever 4, and a spring 5, attached to this lever, acts antagonist-ically to the water-pressure.

It may be explained here, although this feasteady the other stud r will engage theslot in the other arm of the rocker m. Thusone stud r is moved into engagement when"the other moves out. The farther the stud is moved in toward the fulcrum n ofthe rocker m the shorter will be the leverage with which the slotted arm acts on the stud fr, and the purpose of this is to limit and control the extent of movement. of the piston.

The above features are only illust-rated here- TOO in as used conjointly and in operative com-4 bination with the novel features now to be'- described.

6 is a diaphragm-casing containing a dia- 'coupled toa lever l0, and a spring 11, connected to this lever, antagonizes the waterpressure on the diaphragm 7. The rod 9 is coupled by a link 12 to one arm of an elbowlever 13, fulcrumed at 14, and the other arm of said lever 13 is coupled to the stem 15 of a cylindrical hollow valve- 16 in the chest h of the diving-engine. This valve incloses the IIO double-piston valvej, before described, and

The tension of th'e respective springs 5 and 1l may be regulated by the screw connections seen in Fig. 2, which form regulating devices 17 and 18.v The diaphragm 2 and the valvej may '-be called, for distinction, the divingdiaphragm and valve and the;diaphragm 7 and the valve 16 the reversing-diaphragm aud valve- The functionof the t'oruleris to bring the rudders from t-he extreme diving inclination to steady, and the function of the latter is-to shift the rudders quickly to an upward inclination and then@j leave them under control of the diaphragm :2. lThe tension of the spring 11 is so adjusted and set as to yield only when the boat shall have descended'to the predetermined depth at which therudthe valves j and ders are 'te be reversed or shifted to an upward inclination.

It will be understood that when the boat is at the surface, as at a in Fig. 1, the parts will bein the position seen in Fig. 4-that is,

the diving-rudders will be at steady or paralderof the diving-engine f, Fig 4,to the rightof the piston g, thus driving itto the left-Iv hand end of the `cylinderand causing it -to turn the diving-'rudders b' to the extreme diving inclination downward. The boat is then started ahead and itdives'rfdescending in a curved path. The valve j v,having shifted back again, the point o', where the rod u is coupled,.becomes a fulcrum of thexlever o,

, and as the boat descends the hydrostatic pressure acts on the diaphragm 2 to overcome the spring 5 and through' the iioating lever o and cross-arme to shift the valve j and admit fluid to the left-hand end of the cylinder for moving the piston to the right, thus bring' ing the ruddersb toward steadygbut the movement of the piston and its rod acts en the valve-stem through the guide-pieceIt, rocker f m,and cross-arme tend to counteract this movement of the valve j, and the combined actionof the two mechanisms resultsy in the steadyhyrelativelyslowincrements.' When, howevger, the boat shall have reached a depth predetermined where the downward curve 'of itsr path -fs to for example-the hydrostatic pressure will Vact on the diaphragm 7 of the curve-reversing mechanism, and the operatonof--this mechanism will be described. Let it be supposed that the pistong g has traveled from 'the left-hand end of the 'cylinder inl Fig. 4

about one-fourth of its entire travel and the valve j is just closing the ports in the tubular valve 16, which latterports are always open to those of the cylinder.' As the diaphragm 7 Vis pressed inward, carrying with it the rod 9, lit swings -the toggle-link 12 quickly to a position at right angles-to the rod 9, thus acting to rock the elbow-lever 13 quickly. This lever acts through the rod 15 to shift the valve 16 its fullstroke to the left in Fig. 4 and open the' left-hand end of the cylinder to the liquid under pressure. lThe eect'ofthis will be to drive'the piston grapidly to the right.-

hand 'end of the cylinder and through the rod e to turn the diving-rudders b to their upward inclination. The curve of-the boats path will now be reversed; but as the boat co tinues to descend the diaphragm Z will continue to move in; but its action on'the. link f12 will fnow besuch as to dra'win the shorter arm of thelever 13, and thus cause Nsjiid leverl to at be reversed-as at y'V in Fig. 1,

tuted therefor.

i once'return the valve 16 to its lirst or normal position,leaving the diving-rudders again under the control ofthe diaphragm 2; but the movement ot' the piston to the right, as stated, will have shifted the valve j so as to admit the liquid under pressure to the rightha'nd end of the cylinder, and the eect will be to gradallybring the diving-rudders to steady v from their upwardly-inclined position,

and they should reachl the position of steady when the boat shall have reached the predetermined depth of submergeuce with an even or level keel, as at ci" in Fig. l. Thus it will be seen that the diaphragm '7 serves to rather suddenly actuate the diving-engine at a predetermined depth, so as to reverse the-inclinationof the diving-rudders, and then to shift the valve 16 back to its first position, leaving the rudders under the control' of the diaphragm 2 and the piston.

To prevent the spring 11 from actuating the valve 16 when the boat rises toward the surface and the pressure on the diaphragm 7 is removed, means may be provided for locking or holding the rod 9 against return, and this may be a spring-pawl17 on the guide 18', adapted-to engage a shoulder 19 ou the rjod. This device is seen in Fig. 4.

The invention has been 'described' as employed in connectionl with a diving mechanism not herein claimed, to which the new mechanism has been iitted, so as to act in conjunction therewith, but I do not wish to limit myself to the specific features of construction as herein shown,as I am well aware that these may be varied without departing from thespirit of my invention. For exam?.

ple, it is not material just :how the spring 5 IOO shall be disposed so long as it serves its purpose. one within the other; but so long as they are so disposed as to perform their proper functions the specific arrangement is not very important. I should consider anyrdiaphr'agm device adapted to automatically shift the divingrudders at 'avpredetermined depth so as to reverse the curvature of the boats downward path and to again act automatically to leavefthem undercontrol of the normal divingdiaphragm as coming within'the scopeof my invention. Moreover, the diaphragm devices -herein shown being old in themselves any equivalent device, as a piston in a cylinder,

whichis also well known, might be substi- The diaphragm device shown is' selected merely because it has been found most satisfactory in practice.

It may be explained -that in this class of devices the regulating device referred to is lmerely toregulate the coupling connection The valves j and 16 have been arranged IIO' IIS

- claim- Vrocker and the diaphragm devicecontrolling the diving-rudders above the axis of the boat Having thus described my` invention, I

LfIn a submarine boat, the combination with thefd'iVing rudder or rudders, the divingengine .and its valve, the'oating lever, the

therudder normally in diving, of means for throwing up-the diving-rudders above the axis of the boat at a predetermined point of submersion, to reverse the curvature of the descending path', said means comprising a reversing-valve for the diving-engine, for modifying the action of the diving-valve an aux iliary diaphragm mechanism, and a toggle mechanism comprising the lever 13 and link 12 between said diaphragm and reversing-V valve, whereby the former controls the latter.

2. In a submarine boat, the combination with the diving rudder or rudders, the divingengine and its valve, the floating lever, and the diaphragm device controlling the rudder normally in diving, of means for throwing up at a predetermined point of submersion, to reverse the curvature of the descending path, said means 'comprising a reversing-valve 1G, its stem 15, the elbow-lever 13,.to onearm of which said valve is linked, the rod 9, the link 12 coupling said rod tothe other arm of the lever 13, the diaphragmA 7, connected to the rod 9, thediaphragm-casing, open to the Water of dotation, and a spring which antagonizes the pressure of the Water ot' flotation on, said diaphragm 7. e 3. In a submarine boat, the combination' with thediving rudder or. rudders, the divingengine and its valve, the Heating lever, and the diaphragm devicecontrolling the rudder normally in diving, of means for throwing up vessie the diving-rudders above the axis of the boat at a predetermined point of submersion, to reverse the curvature of the descending path, said means comprising a reversing tubular valve 16, inclosing the main or normal valve of the diving-engine, an auxiliary diaphragm device under control of the pressure of the water of flotation, and 'mechanism comprising a lever and toggle-link between said diaphragm device and reversing-valve whereby the movement of the diaphragm in one direction under the iniiucnce of the water-pressure, imparts a reciprocating movement to said valve 16. V

4. In a submarine boat, the combination with the diving-rudders,thediving-engineand its valve, and the diaphragm device and mechanism for controllingthe rudders normally in diving, of means forthrowing up the divingruddcrs above the axis of the boat at a pre.- determined point of submersion, to reverse the curvature of the descending path, said means comprising a diaphragm device, the reversing-valve and its stem, the elbow-lever having one of its arms coupled to the rod of the reversing-valve, the link 12, coupled at one end to the other arm of the elbow-1ever, and the other end to the stem of the diaphragm device', a lever and spring which antagonizes the pressure on the said diaphragm device, and means for locking the diaphragmrod when the diaphragm is shifted.

In witness whereof I'have hereunto signed 

